In this workshop, participants will learn about Huey Miccailhuitl: Grand Celebration of our Dead, per the Indigenous ceremonial calendar honoring the life and death cycle. After the Spanish colonization of Mexico, the original September commemoration of our deceased loved ones was assimilated into the Catholic Church’s celebration of All Souls Day on November 2nd, known today as Day of the Dead. The workshop will include a history and meaning of the Danza Mexica tradition as practiced by Danza Temachtia Quetzalcoatl. Danza Mexica, also known as Aztec Dancing, is a cultural dance tradition widely practiced throughout California and nationwide with origins dating back to ancient Mesoamerican ceremonies of Mexico and Central America. 

Danza Temachtia Quetzalcoatl has been an integral part of Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural, as the Resident Danza Group, since being founded in 2006 and now celebrating their 13th Year Anniversary. They are a Mexica tradition Danza group strongly committed to providing a place for people to grow physically, socially, culturally and spiritually. They have taken part in ceremonies from San Jose, Ca., to Tijuana, Mexico and participate in community events, marches, MeChA conferences and celebrations all year round. Danza Temachtia Quetzalcoatl practices on Mondays from 7-9pm at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural. 

Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore--with a mission to transform community through ancestral knowledge, the arts, literacy and creative engagement-- is honored to host this project called The Indigenous in Us: Embracing Ancestral Knowledge & Sharing the Beauty of Practice. Danza Temachtia Quetzalcoatl’s Huey Miccailhuitl: Grand Celebration of our Dead workshop is part of our series of free public cultural events. Showcasing Northeast San Fernando Valley community-based indigenous practices of Native Mexica and local Native American groups benefits individual and social wellbeing through the sharing of ancestral knowledge and arts.